Until We Next Meet
by Sarah1281
Summary: From the moment Theon left, Robb never quite managed to stop waiting until they'd see each other again. At first he'd thought to have a happy reunion. Then he knew better.


Until We Next Meet

Robb would never have called himself a particularly imaginative person. That had always been his sister Sansa's purview with her dreams of real-life heroes like in the songs and marrying a dashing knight. He had thought it was all harmless and just as well since more than likely she would marry some highborn knight or another (oh, but it had been hard to realize that he didn't know in just what ways his sister was being disillusioned up in King's Landing) but those songs had never really interested him.

Honestly, he'd prefer _not _to have to rescue a maiden before being allowed to get on with marrying her. It just seemed so inconvenient and surely even Sansa, if she was being reasonable, would concede that that sort of danger really wouldn't be worth it for her part either. More than likely she would have just rolled her eyes at him and told him to stop ruining everything. Or at least that's how she would have reacted before she left for King's Landing. Now…now who even knew what losing their father and becoming a hostage of the Lannisters had done to her?

But just the same, he had had a sort of picture in his mind of how it would go when Theon returned to him.

He had never doubted that Theon would return to him though, in truth, he might have been the only one who didn't. It hadn't exactly escaped his attention that from the moment that Theon left there were some who spoke as if they would never see Theon again and Robb didn't think for a minute that it was their own mortality they were contemplating.

It had always been a risky proposition, sending a decade-long hostage home to convince his father to ally with his captor's son, but wars weren't won by playing it safe. He might not have the experience of the other player's but he knew that much, at least. And he and Theon didn't really think of it like that anyway, for all that it was technically true. Theon was his friend not really his _hostage_. And it's not like the matter ever would have come up unless Balon Greyjoy did something completely insane and rebelled again but he hadn't for ten years so that was something.

If he valued Theon's life enough to stay his hand then surely he'd at least hear him out, right? And it was a good deal. Maybe Balon Greyjoy wouldn't want to ally with the Starks out of principle but Lannisport would be a tempting target to the Ironborn raiders. If pride and spite did not overwhelm good sense then there would be nothing to worry about.

Theon would come back and he'd bring with him a fleet and they'd have exactly what they needed to take King's Landing, avenge his father, and rescue his sisters. They could go _home _and this whole nightmare would be behind him. Or, well, he'd still have to be King of the North as was his duty but surely merely being a king must be far pleasanter than being a king at war.

They would be proper equals this time. Growing up, Robb had been the heir of Winterfell and Theon the heir of the Iron Islands but Robb was safe in the land he would one day rule and his birthright had been secure from the moment he was born. Theon was the heir of a place impossibly far away because two brothers had died on him and he could have lost his head at any time if his father rebelled again. When Theon came back with that fleet no one would ever be able to tell him again that he was wrong for trusting a Greyjoy or that it was foolish to bring him to war. No one would think he was good only to keep his father in line and they'd look past Theon's determined attempts to antagonize them (they'd stop antagonizing him as well which would certainly cut down on Theon's attitude). They'd see what Robb had always seen, or at least part of it, and it would finally be _right_. Theon would bring them the means to win this war and no one would be able to argue with that.

And Theon would get to have his family back. Robb had heard nothing good of them in the tales of the rebellion but they were still Theon's family and it wasn't as if war brought out the best in anybody. Surely Robb's own enemies had nothing nice to say about him. Maybe when he was younger he hadn't understood but now he knew exactly what it was like to have your family torn apart by war and politics. To anyone else Theon might have made a pointed comment about the shoe being on the other foot now with Sansa and Arya being hostages but he hadn't been anyone else and Theon hadn't said anything of the sort. Despite what his mother wanted – despite what he himself wanted, in fact – he couldn't ransom his sisters right now and going to war against their captors could spell their deaths if the Lannisters weren't out to steal Winterfell as well. But he thought of how it might be to finally get them back and was glad that Theon, at least, would get a reunion like that.

But Robb wasn't a boy anymore, he was a king and couldn't just blindly expect everything to go perfectly. He had to consider the possibility that Theon was wrong. It was a damn good offer and only a fool wouldn't take it but what had the Greyjoy Rebellion been in the first place but an act of supreme foolishness? Yes it was only five years previous that King Robert had won his kingdom but he had had the support of most of Westeros by the end and King Aerys had been quite mad. To think that King Robert would have fought so hard to unify his kingdom just for the Iron Islands to break away because they wanted to be independent…it was madness.

In a way that Robb didn't really like to think about but that he knew Theon was pleased with, what he was doing now was similar. Hadn't he up and declared the entire north independent from Westeros? But it wasn't the same thing at all, really. The North had far more strength in them than the Iron Islands had (and the Baratheons were splitting the Lannister's focus) and he was doing this for justice and not a petty lust for power.

So maybe Balon Greyjoy would be a fool and turn down this one opportunity to redeem his people in the eyes of Westeros and to actually become something – and something wealthy, too. Theon would come back and he'd be depressed about it and Robb would have to find some way to try and make him feel better though he had no idea what he would say. 'Your father is a fool' might be true but it wasn't going to cheer Theon any. He would be glad to see him just the same and not allow anyone to make comments about the fleet Theon didn't return with where he could hear them. Of course, people would make them anyway and probably even make them to Theon but as long as Theon stuck close by him he could be shielded from it.

But even that carried its silver lining, didn't it? Theon wasn't a hostage anymore. When Robb had sent him home as an envoy he had effectively freed him. If Theon came back with the Greyjoys as allies there would be no more talk of hostages and even if he didn't…well in that case Theon still would have made his choice and been here entirely voluntarily. No matter what the Greyjoys did back on Pyke, Theon's head would be safe. And it wouldn't be perfect, Theon might have wished he hadn't gone at all rather than be humiliated returning empty-handed, but leaving and returning would only prove that he was right to trust Theon. And, after ten years of doubt, he would really appreciate it if other people could finally trust _him _on the matter.

Travelling to Pyke would take time, of course, and they didn't want the Lannisters (or any other enemy they might acquire) to get wind of their plan. The best way to utilize the Greyjoy fleet would be with the element of surprise, after all. That was why they hadn't done more than inform the Greyjoys that Theon would be coming and why Theon hadn't written.

Or at least that's why he hadn't written at first.

Time passed and there was still nothing. Surely he could have at least sent a raven saying 'yes' or 'no.' That wouldn't give anything away and if it reached Robb then he'd know. Maybe it took time to persuade them but…even if they needed to think about it how long could that have taken? Wouldn't Theon have given him some sort of indication of-of _something_?

But he hadn't and a possibility he hadn't allowed himself to consider began to dawn on him. What if Theon simply didn't come back? His mother and bannermen certainly didn't expect to see him again. Robb would like to think that, as pretty much the only person around Theon actually liked, he knew him a bit better than the others and he could have sworn that Theon had every intention of bringing back the fleet.

But what if they weren't reasonable after all? Might he just decide to stay on Pyke rather than risk returning empty-handed? It would be an awfully big blow to his pride, after all. And maybe the temptations of a long-lost home were too much for him and he couldn't bring himself to leave. Perhaps even his father needed him close at hand as his heir when they had already lost so much with that hostage business. He didn't know. He couldn't know. Theon hadn't even sent a raven saying he was going to stay.

And so he started to think about finding Theon again, the time and place immaterial, and asking him what had happened. Travel was dangerous in the best of times and this was war so obviously he was going to be worried and the mission had been _important_. Even if the answer was no he still deserved to hear it.

That's when news of the Iron Island's rebellion reached him. Balon Greyjoy had crowned himself king as well making it a war of five kings. It was really a little ridiculous. It should only have been three: himself, Joffrey, and one of the Baratheon brothers. Why both Renly and Stannis had to crown themselves he would never understand and his mother just looked irritated when asked about it. But at least they were the brothers of the late King Robert and legitimate heirs to the throne.

What Balon Greyjoy thought he could accomplish was anybody's guess. Robb had _already _offered him a throne. But Theon had told him once something about how the Ironborn believed that taking things was more valuable than being given them because anything given could be taken away. Of course, as Robb had thought at the time but politely hadn't mentioned, anything taken could be taken _back _once the injured party could regroup and if it was taken by force it was far more likely to be taken away than if it was a gift.

Maybe in the chaos of war nobody would have time to put Pyke back in its place and Balon Greyjoy could wear his crown for a season or two but eventually _somebody _would win and Robb couldn't see anybody just allowing the second Greyjoy Rebellion to be any more successful than the first one was. In fact, tearing down Balon Greyjoy could prove quite unifying once the dust had finally settled on a victor. At least he understood why Theon hadn't come back. If he had and his father had rebelled…well Robb wouldn't have killed him, especially once he was no longer a hostage, but it would have been a daunting prospect. He was fairly certain he and Theon had never sat down and talked about the possibility of Robb killing him because it would have been awful and so maybe Theon didn't know where Robb stood on the matter. He didn't like that thought but maybe he didn't. And even if Robb wouldn't have blamed him, he wasn't so naïve he didn't know how everyone else would have reacted. Still, Theon should have warned them.

Would their next meeting be like it was when his father and King Robert had put a stop to the first Greyjoy Rebellion? Would he be reunited with Theon only for him to be taken as hostage once again? After all, the second rebellion hadn't started until Robb had – foolishly, they'd say – given Theon back. Theon's father must be getting old, especially with Theon being the youngest child. It wouldn't make much sense for the next ruler of Pyke to be taken away again. Perhaps his sister? It would certainly make things awkward if Robb were holding Theon's sister hostage. Perhaps it wouldn't even be Robb doing it. But Robb rather thought that if Asha Greyjoy had to be taken hostage by someone Theon would rather it be him, who Theon knew wouldn't mistreat her, than someone else. Especially not a Lannister. Though if the Lannisters were still in a position to be taking hostages that didn't bode well for his own future.

And what was Theon's involvement in any of this anyway? Surely he couldn't _want _to open up a two-front war on Robb. He couldn't believe that.

Then worse news.

Theon had taken Winterfell.

It hadn't made any sense when he had first heard of it. How could it make any sense? Not only had Theon decided to stay with his family and not only had he decided to join their war and attack Robb's forces but he had seized Robb's own castle. Bran had yielded it but Bran was a child and not well. There was Rickon to consider and the castle was severely under-guarded. He had needed all those men for his army and he had trusted Winterfell's walls to protect his brothers as they had protected the Starks for eight thousand years. But then, no one else who had tried to invade Winterfell had known it half as well as Theon had, did they? He didn't know how Theon had managed but that really wasn't important, was it?

He thought of going back at once and liberating his home and his brothers, of demanding to know what Theon thought he was playing at. He was supposed to strengthen Robb's cause, not destroy it! For he had never been dealt a harsher blow. Theon had to have known what he was doing. His father had made sure they had known their history, Theon included, and it wasn't a secret why Stannis Baratheon holding Storm's End was so very important. When he had been much younger he had grasped that what Stannis had managed was very difficult but hadn't understood just why it was so _important_. What did it matter if the Tyrells took Storm's End if Robert won and could just get it back?

Now he was well aware that when a lord – or, worse, a king – couldn't even keep their own seat then it did irreparable damage to their cause. Who would follow a man who could not even hold his own castle? Theon _had _to have known that. He wasn't stupid. Robb knew it, too, but what choice did he have but to continue to press on? If he turned back now he would have lost everything he'd spent these last months gaining and he couldn't afford to give the Lannisters time to regroup. What would the Ironborn even want with a castle so far from the sea? They'd never be able to hold it long-term. It must just be spite. It had to be personal. And, whatever his orders, Theon had _personally _taken his home and jeopardized his entire war. He had to see it. So then why…?

War was war and he knew damn well that terrible things happened in it. He had had to do some terrible things. But _Theon._..this was different. He wasn't just asking himself why it had happened or how it had happened. All he could think was how could Theon do this to him. After everything..._everything_. They had been brothers and more - _now and always_ - and look what it had all come to. But Theon had been the one who asked and if he had stayed it would have ruined everything anyway. Theon would have seen it as a sign that he didn't trust him, that even Robb...but then what good had that trust led to? A stolen home and a bond broken anyway. Surely his anger and hurt at being denied the chance to return home would be nothing to this. But he had really thought that Theon had seen him the way he had always seen Theon.

He saw himself storming Winterfell and taking it. Bran and Rickon would be scared of the occupation and glad to see him but otherwise unharmed. Whatever had happened to Theon on Pyke, whatever he was now, he wouldn't harm Robb's brothers. He might very well get Robb killed with this stunt but Bran and Rickon were children. Theon had lived at Winterfell longer than they had. He had saved Bran's life once when he didn't have to and Robb hadn't the presence of mind to actually thank him. He saw himself demanding to know why Theon had done such a thing before either killing him or, possibly, allowing him to take the black. He couldn't see an answer, though, because the truth was that he simply didn't know. How could one spend ten years with a man and know so much about him and yet still so little? How was he expecting this little story to end? He had to know that Robb could never just let this go.

He almost went back. But he didn't for the same reason Sansa and Arya were still in King's Landing. With Winterfell occupied, it was that much more important that he not give any more ground. He didn't have time for a siege and didn't want to do any more damage to Winterfell's defenses than he had to. It could wait.

And then suddenly it couldn't. Suddenly he was hit with the most unexpected news of all. It was more shocking even than finding out that his father had suddenly been arrested for _treason _of all things when he had left to go be the Hand of the King. More shocking than Theon turning on him and taking Winterfell in the first place.

His brothers were dead.

Theon had killed them.

They had been killed and their heads dipped in tar and mounted on spikes. Presumably they had tried to escape or something because otherwise it didn't make any sense. Even if they did try to escape it didn't make sense. Theon knew better than anyone how hostages worked. He couldn't possibly have brought enough men to hold Winterfell from a proper attack. The only thing staying off a full-on attack was the knowledge that Bran and Rickon would surely be killed if they did something.

Killing them made no sense. If they ran Theon would surely be angry and want to punish them but outright killing them? It was madness. He might as well have just let them escape for all the good killing them would have done. They could no longer be used to protect himself and at least if they had escaped their deaths wouldn't enrage the whole north. Killing them was just _begging _to be attacked. If he absolutely _had _to react so strongly he should have at least kept one of them. But he hadn't.

It didn't make any sense.

And it was Theon and Bran and Rickon. Bran had never really warmed up to Theon and Rickon was too young to really have much to say about it. But Theon had always seemed to have a certain fondness for them even if he had largely dismissed them as children beneath his notice. He had never thought that he could hurt him. If he had thought for one instant then he never would have…but it didn't matter. He was wrong and Bran and Rickon had paid the price. He was their one hope and he had failed them.

He thought about seeing Theon again but all he could see was himself demanding to know why and the swing of the sword when Theon's head split from his body. As hard as he tried, he could never seem to formulate any answer.

Was it all lies then?

He couldn't believe that so much of his life was untrue but then hadn't his illusions been crumbling down around his ears since King Robert had first ridden to Winterfell? What was one more lie? Maybe Theon had never cared for any of them. Maybe everything they shared had amounted to nothing in the end. How else could he have killed his brothers?

He had thought he had known what Theon wanted but he was wrong. He had to have been wrong. There was no other way to make sense of this.

He didn't know what to think.

And then Jeyne was there and so very lovely and she only wanted to help and…

The wedding. There had to be a wedding to fix it. Promises were made and not fulfilled and what did the Starks have if not their honor? But his uncle would take care of it.

He tried not to think of Theon or his brothers because it all led back to the same dismal place and he just…he _couldn't_. But everywhere he looked there were reminders. He couldn't even look at Jeyne without remembering given the circumstances of their wedding. But he was trying to push that back to the part of his mind he didn't pay more attention to than he had to.

And then Roose Bolton had came to him, telling how his bastard Ramsay (Ramsay the monster and wasn't he supposed to be dead?) had cleaned up at Winterfell. The Ironborn had burned it out of spite and didn't that sound just like them? He didn't want to ask but he still needed to know.

What about Theon? Was he dead? Robb didn't think it sounded like him to flee, not the proud man Robb remembered, but then hadn't the past few months made it perfectly clear that he had never known Theon at all?

Robb had asked that question before but this time Roose had an answer. He took out what Robb had first thought to be a ragged strip of leather. But then, he had never seen what flayed skin looked like. And this skin apparently belonged to Theon or had at one point. Now one could say it belonged to Roose Bolton. Ramsay had taken it from the little finger of his left hand. Of course he had. Ramsay was a monster and everyone knew that.

Roose was looking expectantly at him. What did he want him to say? Was he supposed to approve of this? He couldn't understand the expression on his mother's face but then they were her sons. Maybe he should approve of it. As Roose said, it was just a little skin and his brothers had been so small and so defenseless when they had been brutally killed and their bodies desecrated. He was sure his bannermen would approve.

And yet the sight made him sick.

He wanted Theon's head not his skin. Flaying every inch of Theon's body wouldn't make a miracle for Bran and Rickon and so there was no point. It was needlessly cruel. Theon had betrayed him, sabotaged his cause, stolen his home, killed his brothers, and then burned his home down. For any single one of those offenses he deserved to die.

But his father had taught him that death should only be meted out when necessary and as a dispassionate act in the service of duty or justice. If a man sentenced another to death he should swing the sword personally and if he could not then perhaps the condemned man did not deserve it. Theon wouldn't have deserved it if Balon Greyjoy had rebelled long ago and yet his father would still have somehow found it in himself to take his head.

Now Theon _did_ deserve it and now he was in the hands of Robb's allies so now, maybe right after the wedding, he would have to look him in the eyes and ask why and take his head. He tried to imagine it and felt sick but it was his duty and it was justice and Bran and Rickon had been his brothers.

It wouldn't be easy but taking life never was and it was always more difficult with executions than in fair combat.

Theon Greyjoy would die at his hands; that much was certain. But he wasn't about to put up with any torture. They were better than that. Strange that Roose Bolton would be so open about his son's flaying. No, it hadn't been done by Roose personally but he knew how the Starks felt about it and it had been outlawed long ago. He had always claimed that he kept the Bolton house sigil the way it was for tradition's sake and not because he still practiced it. Perhaps he thought that if it were _Theon _then Robb wouldn't care. He was wrong.

It was Theon and that just made this worse. All he could think of was hands on his, hands that he had wanted and yet never quite known how to define and...it didn't matter. It couldn't matter. But this could not continue. There were _standards. _

And then the wedding. And then that song. Suddenly battle broke out or…not a battle, exactly, as his side certainly wasn't ready. An ambush. A massacre. And there was no time to think or regret, barely any time to move.

And yet he suddenly understood why Roose Bolton had felt comfortable admitting to his flaying. He suddenly understood just why Roose had suddenly conceded to having Theon. He may have had him for some time now but he didn't want to hand him over. By telling him now he could keep Theon but there really was no point in telling Robb at all, was there? Not unless the point was the simple satisfaction of letting Robb know that he was torturing a man who had once been a brother to him and that there was nothing Robb could do to stop it. Whatever Roose's plans for Theon were, Robb was powerless to stop it now. Strange he had the energy to be angry about that now.

He suddenly understood that all his imaginings were just that: imaginings. The reality was that he was never going to see Theon again and he was never going to understand how they had gone from brothers now and always separating to strengthen their cause to Theon turning against him in every way that mattered. He would never know why Theon had taken everything that mattered and crushed it into the dirt. Months now since he had had to name Theon as an enemy yet they had been friends when last they met. They had been _brothers. _Was that something to be glad of or to regret?

And his mother had taken a grandson of Lord Frey hostage and was trying to plead for his life but Robb knew it would never work. Anyone they couldn't stand to lose wouldn't be a part of this and they could not afford to back down now. Robb wouldn't show them any mercy even if he could. Not that their victory would be long-lived. Robb might die here but no one would ever trust a Frey again after this gross violation of guest right. Not that that meant much to him now.

Roose Bolton was before him then. So he would strike the killing blow then?

"Jaime Lannister sends his regards."

How had it all gone so wrong?

They were both going to be _kings_.


End file.
